Renewable investments are for the long term as return on their investments will be realized within nine to 10 years, according to Turkish energy investment company, Ozgul Holding's chairman on Thursday.
'We, as renewable investors, should not expect quick return on investments,' Chairman Omer Faruk Ozgul told Anadolu Agency in an interview.
He added that such investments which are feasible and realistic will have a life of at least 50 years.
'Investments in renewable energy are never wrong,' Ozgul asserted.
Turkey is turning into a hot spot for renewable energy investments mainly in hydro, wind and the solar sectors. As an example of renewables which are successful and flourishing, Turkey's wind power plant capacity which in 1998 was at 8.7 megawatts (MW) reached a capacity of 3,650 MW by 2015. To date Turkey's energy watchdog EMRA has awarded 250 wind power plant licenses for a capacity of 9,900 MW.
Turkey currently has 40,000 MW of installed capacity in solar and 36,000 MW in wind power, and as part of its 2023 targets, the country aims to add another 20,000 MW of solar and wind by then.
According to Ernst &Young's global report on April 13, Turkey has climbed up one step in the attractiveness index for renewable energy investment to the eighteenth spot globally while India and Sub-Saharan Africa is soaring.
The country came after Denmark and just before Portugal in the 40-country list, the report shows.
Ozgul explained that the company's main goal is to continue to be an investor with the intention of increasing production and employment.
By Zeynep Beyza Kilic
Anadolu Agency
zeynep.karabay@aa.com.tr